GPS aids medical staff

Shrewsbury Town’s Medical Department have been using science in order to aid injury prevention.

This season the team has extensively used GPS (Global Positioning System) data to work out when and to what intensity the players should train.

Analyst George Bunce has been working hard to provide the necessary data and club Physio Chris Skitt has been delighted with the results.

“George Bunce has been phenomenal with the data he’s produced and the information we’ve gleamed from that”, said Skitt.

“GPS effects everything we do. From looking at the week they’ve had and the game they’ve had previous, to forecasting where we need to be in terms of statistics which give us the best chance of running a high volume game in the weekend coming.

“The insights we have into players in terms of when they might be having a little bit of a dip, when they might be a bit short of energy, or, conversely, when they are looking to improve and are starting to come towards their peak again.”

The GPS data has been used in a number of different ways and has been particularly vital in helping players get back to their best after injury.

“From my side it helps us know where we need to get players back to”, admitted Chris.

“So, we use Abs as the example and I knew what distances he covered in a week, I also knew the sprint distances he did, the accelerations and decelerations he did and what he would do in a game.

“So, later on in his rehab I was looking to create in 90 minutes those game values he would get, to know that when I gave him back the gaffer for training, he would be able to cope with the match intensity.

“There has been times where the players haven’t done quite enough and if we know they are going to be in and around the matchday squad and we need to lift their volume a little bit and their levels then we will increase their running.

“We might pull them over and do some extra running on the Thursday for example to make sure they are ready to go for the Saturday.”

The GPS systems were kindly donated to the club by the Super Blues and Skitt was incredibly thankful for proving the equipment.

“The information we get is fantastic and I can’t that the Super Blues and Chris Smith enough for what they've allowed us to do this season.”